It’shuge! I didn’t even make a dent in it. We ended up taking it home andthe next night four people ate some of it for dinner and we still hadsome to throw away. I couldn’t believe my little salad could feedabout 6 servings.

It is raining, raining, and raining! Yesterday, the outer bands of Gustav was making his appearance. We were told that it wouldn't directly hit us, so I wasn't too worried about the winds and the rain. Well, about midnight last night, the wind and rain started up and it was so loud. It literally sounded like someone was throwing buckets of water on the windows! We lost power so it started to get pretty humid and stuffy inside the house. Jaxson had a hard time sleeping last night because of all the noise too.We drove around this morning and the rain has not let up. Tree limbs are everywhere. Water is all over the roads. It is just wet. It sure makes me miss the misty rain of the northwest!Power finally came on this afternoon. It took such a long time because a lot of the electric trucks went to Louisiana. I think this little storm last night was a surprise to us all.

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Now that we are back in Arkansas, it has been really relaxing. Justin and I went to Sonic for cherry limades, peach tea, and pickle-o's. What are pickle-o's you ask? Well, they are sliced fried pickles. It really sounds gross, but it was good. We shared it, but Justin told me later, that he wished he would have gotten our own servings. I guess he can't get enough of those fried pickles!Last night, the entire family came over to eat dinner and hang out. Having four kids under the age of 4 was loud! But I think Jax liked it. He kept watching all the kids run around. If only he would start crawling!We also took a family picture and that was pretty interesting. Those timers on the cameras are a great invention, but 3 seconds is too short and ten seconds is way to long. Abby at one point made a get away into the kitchen and Lorianne had to track her down. Unfortunately, by the time she had captured Abby and ran back, she had missed the picture by a second!And, just like it does at home, it is pouring out rain. Gustav is passing by us and dumping rain and a little wind on us. I'm just thankful that is all that really happened during that storm.

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Well, I am sorta losing my job. I would be sad, but I really don’t like it. Today I was informed that my job (Visa Credit Cards) was relocating to our Loan Servicing dept. I could go into there and still do Visa (Nah…who wants to move?) or……..I could hatch a pretty good plan. I haven’t been happy in my job for a while now and was contemplating a lot of other things. So as soon as I found out about that I jumped at the chance to ask my boss to go part time. You see, I am trying to complete my dream of being a teacher and I have talked to Western about getting back in. I don’t have to take any re-entry tests or anything! Just reapply! Rock on.Anyways, back to my story, my boss agreed to let me job share with one of my friends. I would be only working three days a week and have time for school. And I would be finally out of Visa which is so stressful! I don’t have a part time starting date, in fact, I still need to talk to Jenn about sharing her job, (which she’ll be fine with) and by the end of Sept. I should be an official part timer. I can’t wait. In other news….who would build a condo complex w/out AC? It is soooo hot here. Yes, 80 degrees and no AC is not my idea of COOL! Hardly anyone has AC on the island….but even if we are hot only a week out of the summer, it would still be worth it. Although….I can work on my tan. Hmmmm……

Justin made it home today. I was so excited to see him. I am so glad that he has the opportunity to do things like this, but there is nothing better than your husband coming home from a week long trip! And I am sure that he will be posting about his Tall Timber experience on his blog.

And we already have our date planned for this weekend. After church tomorrow, we are heading to Lynnwood to the brand new Loews theater and watching “Pirates of the Caribbean”. I can’t wait! This theater is huge and with nice seats! And it doesn’t hurt to stop in at the mall and see what’s new either.

Well, while Justin is away I figured I better caught up on my chick flicks. After a very hard day of work, I thought I deserved some time out.

I watched Must Love Dogs with Diane Lane and John Cusack. I thought it looked stupid in previews, but it was free on my DVR. So why not? And actually, I really liked it.

Then I went to an oldie but goodie. Steel Magnolis. Well, that movie made my cry! It is the Ultimate Chick Flick ever! And I loved it.

So I am off to another day at work. Work is really tough. Its been that way before I went to Gulf Shores. I come out each day wanting to quit because of all the stress and office politics. So I’ve been praying to God and asking him for some direction.

Justin is up at Tall Timber this week. He is the main speaker for the Middle School Adventure Camp. I was fortunate enough to have today off, so I drove last night to the camp and stayed there.

I got there just in time for the worship and to hear Justin speak. The place was swarming with mosquitos (it was an outside worship), so they had the spray the place twice for us to not be eaten alive. If they hadn’t sprayed the place, and stayed on schedule, I would have missed his talk. (Thank goodness for mosquitos?? I dunno.)

Anyways, Justin gave a talk about God still knowing us even after we mess up. This was a good message for those middle schoolers. He did a great job. Those kids were engages in his talk and really listened to him. I was very proud of him.

Today we woke up to thunder and lightning. We don’t get that much of it here on the island so that was a great memory. Growing up in Central Washington, we always had storms in the middle of the night like that. It rained on and off today and there was some lightning. I think that was God’s fireworks for the camp since fireworks are illegal in the woods.

I was able to stay until dinner time, then I had to be home for work tommorrow. Even though I had to drive three hours each way and suffered about 15 mosquito bites, it was worth seeing him speak. And I had such a great time with him and hanging out with the camp. It is so relaxing and beautiful up there. I wish I could have atleast stayed one more day!

But I did come home to fireworks on the beach. I could see them from our condo deck. Happy 4th of July!

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Justin and I went to Gulf Shores for a couple of days this month. We had a blast. His parents rented out a beach house and the whole family was there. We had great food, super sweet ice tea and warm sunny weather. I got a pretty good tan in just the couple of days that we were there.

The only bad part of the trip was that Justin and I had to fly down on separte planes the WHOLE way. I had never flown by myself before so I was terrified I would get on the wrong plane and end up in New York or something, but I didn’t. I really made a big deal about nothing.

And when we met up at the airport and went to rent our car, Justin had an expired license!! Can you believe that he had been driving around for a month, was able to get past security in Seattle, and find out in Pennsicola? So I had to be the driver of the car. And when we went out to our car, we had a car that sat 6 people. It was sort of a mini van only kinda cute. So here I was lugging around my husband in Alabama and Florida, feeling a little like a soccer mom in this updated mini van.

Justin’s favorite part was going to the Gulf Shore Steamers restaurant. I am going to have to agree. Justin got some of their Gulf Ruby Red shrimp. It was the best shrimp we have ever had! That is the first place that we are going to eat out next time we go down.

My favorite part was being able to get up, change into my swim suit and head down to the beach. It was so relaxing and I needed that after a very hard and difficult week of work. And Kaye took me to all these cool stores (Old Pottery Barn rocks!) so I could shop for our condo. Justin wasn’t too excited by the fact that we had to buy another bag to bring our stuff home!

So, we are totally heading down there next year and staying alot longer. I am already ready to go back!